There exist many computer programs today that assist a user in viewing and editing digital images on a computer. For example, an image editing program enables a user to select an image from a group of images, often by selecting a smaller, or “thumbnail,” representative of the image. After selecting the image, operations may be performed on the image to alter its appearance or orientation, for example.
For example, a user could select an image (or a thumbnail representation thereof) by clicking on the image or its thumbnail representation with a pointer, and then select a “rotate” tool from a palette of tools or from a drop-down menu. As a result, the “rotate” operation would be performed on the selected image.
Another user interactive technique of performing operations on a digital image involves selecting a tool, and then clicking on a digital image upon which the operation represented by the tool is to be performed. As a result, the operation is performed upon the image. Frequently, the cursor changes in appearance to alert the user that when the mouse button is clicked, the subject that is clicked upon will be operated upon instead of merely selected. For example, a user could select a “rotate” tool from a palette of tools or from a drop-down menu. The cursor could change in appearance from a pointer to an arc with an arrow on one end, which is a common icon for a “rotate” command. The user would then click on an image with the rotate tool, and then rotate the image freely by holding down a mouse button or key modifier. Alternatively, the rotate tool could be configured to rotate the operated-upon image a predefined amount, such as ninety degrees clockwise.
However, there are many drawbacks to current methods of performing operations on a digital image. By selecting an image and then selecting a tool, or vice versa, a user must click twice, often in different areas of the screen. This is a waste of time and effort. Often a user must select an image, select a tool, and then click on the image again to perform an operation.
Furthermore, current methods only perform operations on single images. Users today may have large numbers of digital images to work with, and desire to perform an operation on several images at once. The previous approaches require the user to select and operate on each image individually. It becomes extremely tedious for a user to rotate 200 images from a horizontal to vertical perspective, or convert 200 images from color to black-and-white. Therefore, there exists a need for techniques to perform an operation on a plurality of digital images simultaneously and concurrent with selecting the images or the thumbnail representations thereof.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, the approaches described in this section may not be prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.